


Just a Trim

by rhysiana



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: And Despite the Preceeding Tags This is Still Mostly, Body Hair, Domestic Fluff, M/M, body issues, brief mention of Kate Argent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-25
Updated: 2019-04-25
Packaged: 2020-09-24 12:09:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20358259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rhysiana/pseuds/rhysiana
Summary: In which Derek's innocent purchase of a new electric trimmer leads Stiles down a conversational rabbit hole...





	Just a Trim

**Author's Note:**

> Based on an actual conversation my spouse and I had after a Costco trip, and then the story veered into a little bit of angst exploration before pulling itself back onto our regularly expected fluffy course.

As weirdly helpful as Stiles was on Costco shopping trips, where a brain used to making sudden connections and quick decisions in the face of ever-changing product offerings was indeed an asset, he always fell down on the job when it came time to put everything away. Witness Derek trying to find room for an entire flat of Gatorade in his pantry closet while Stiles sat on the couch with what appeared to be all the pieces of Derek’s new beard trimmer spread out around him while he read the manual.

Derek rolled his eyes, gave up, and balanced the Gatorade on top of a bunch of canned goods. It’d be fine. Probably. He pulled another box over toward him: crackers, granola bars, a tub of cubed mango he didn’t remember getting that needed to go in the fridge…

Stiles snorted with laughter from the couch and Derek turned to see him holding one of the trimmer guards in one hand and the manual in the other. Derek raised an inquisitive eyebrow when Stiles looked over. As far as he knew, it was just like the trimmer he’d been using for the past decade, just newer (and hopefully more functional); he couldn’t imagine what Stiles was finding so amusing.

“Body 3mm,” Stiles said, brandishing the guard. “There’s a dude on the side of the box manscaping his chest, right? That is absolutely the only kind of body hair trimming you’d be doing with this guard. That’s totally why the instructions,” he started giggling uncontrollably, “why the instructions go into such detail about being sure to use your other hand to gently stretch the skin…”

Derek could feel his face getting hot.

“It’s like they couldn’t just say ‘balls.’ They clearly _know_ what people were going to use this for, but reading all the ways they talk around it is genuinely hilarious.” He fell sideways on the couch, manual held up over his head, and started to read the instructions out loud, but only made it half a sentence before he started giggling again.

Derek turned back to the kitchen cabinets and gave finding a spot to put the giant box of Cheez-Its far more consideration than it needed.

“This is just like your old one, right?” Stiles asked.

“Yeah.” Derek picked up a package of croissants and then decided to just leave them on the counter, since they were for pack brunch the next day anyway.

“Did that one have the body hair guards too, or is this a new inclusion?”

Derek, curse his werewolf upbringing, didn’t even consider lying until it was too late. “No, it had them.”

Stiles pushed himself up again. “It _did_? Did you use them?” Derek risked a peek over his shoulder and found Stiles propped up on his elbows staring into space, mouth hanging slightly open. “Like, I knew you paid a lot of attention to grooming the scruff, but do you have a whole manscaping routine?!”

Derek swallowed. “…I used to.” He shelved two boxes of cereal but couldn’t quite fit the third. Why did kitchens never have enough cabinet space?

“Really? What all did you do? And, like… why? It’s not like you need the help.”

Derek put his hands down firmly on the counter and just breathed for a second. Stiles’ tone was nothing but honest curiosity, and Derek knew this was just the way his mind worked, but this topic was turning out to still be unexpectedly raw.

He didn’t realize how long he’d been standing there until Stiles’ hand landed softly on his shoulder. Which was hunched. He exhaled again slowly and made an effort to stand up straighter, to relax his shoulders back down away from his ears.

“You okay?” Stiles asked, all traces of levity gone.

“Yeah,” Derek said. At Stiles’ skeptical look, he tried to sound a little more convincing. “I’m fine, I swear. It’s just…”

“Look, you don’t owe me any explanation or anything! I should have been helping.” Stiles looked away, clearly desperate for a distraction. “Oh, hey, where do you want these Ziploc bags?”

“Third drawer down. And I know. I just… I think I want to?”

Stiles put the bags away absently, attention focused entirely on Derek now.

“I didn’t even think about it when I grabbed that at the store today, you know, but I got my old one after Laura and I moved to New York.” Where he’d quickly figured out if he let his stubble grow in, he could pass for older. Get into bars. Into clubs. No one ever seemed to check. “I went through kind of… a phase.”

Stiles’ eyes widened, ever prone to see more than Derek wanted. “After Kate.”

Derek shrugged, shoulders tight again. “My body was what people seemed to want.”

Stiles jerked as a thought struck him, staring into the distance again. “You used to wax your chest. When you first came back here.” And then he flushed, embarrassed at having admitted noticing.

As much as he didn’t really find it funny, Derek found himself repressing a smile, the edges of his lips trying to curl up despite him. It wasn’t like Stiles could help how often Derek seemed to end up sans shirt around him. “Yeah, I did.”

“But you don’t now.” A definite statement.

“No. Not for a long time now.”

Slowly, Stiles reached out to touch him again, brushing along his forearm down towards his hand. “Because you’re more comfortable here?”

Derek turned his palm up and caught Stiles’ hand, rubbing the back of it with his thumb. “Because I’m more comfortable with myself.”

Stiles raised his other hand and cupped Derek’s cheek, petting the scruff of his beard, at this point several days longer than he normally left it, since the old trimmer had died. “I’m really glad,” Stiles breathed, and then they were kissing.

They only broke apart when Stiles tripped over one of the boxes still haphazardly covering the kitchen floor. Derek caught him mid-flail before he could overbalance completely, and hid his laughter in the side of Stiles’ neck and Stiles clutched at his shoulders.

“We should really finish putting all of this away,” Derek said reluctantly.

“But then we can return to kissing?” Stiles asked hopefully.

Derek’s face heated up again, but he didn’t try to hide it this time. “Yeah.”

“Awesome!” Stiles released Derek’s shoulders and bent over the nearest box, so Derek turned to do the same.

“But seriously, dude, did you ever shave your nuts?” Stiles asked behind him.

Derek threw a bag of marshmallows at him.


End file.
